The second battle in Turn 1 of our Corellian Conflict Campaign saw the Empire Strike Back! The first battle had the Rebel Eric attacking the system of Nubia, but the gallant defenders of the Empire, commanded by Grand Admiral Scott drove them off. For this second battle the Imperial forces took the initiative and launched an assault of their own.
The Emperor had decreed that the Corellian Sector be swept clean of the rebel presence so Admiral Scott directed his 1st Fleet to strike the Polanis System where scouts had detected a rebel presence. It was a rich system with a substantial resource bonus so the Imperial Intelligence officers calculated a high probability that there was a rebel base at Polanis.
1st Fleet was the Empire's elite strike force in the sector; it consisted of:
Imperial II Class Star Destroyer "Invincible" (flagship) – Gunnery Team, Admiral Screed
Imperial II Class Star Destroyer "Implacable" – Gunnery Team
Raider I Class Corvette "Impetuous"
Raider II Class Corvette "Industrious"
2 x TIE Fighter
1 x TIE Interceptor
They hypered into the Polanis system expecting to find a rebel base. Sadly, there was nothing there except a tiny outpost—and a rebel fleet!
The mission chosen was "Superior Position" meaning that the Imperial Fleet had to deploy completely before the rebels had to deploy at all. Clearly a planned ambush!
The Rebel fleet was light on heavy ships, but had a heavy compliment of fighters.
1 x MC80 Battlecruiser (flagship) Admiral Akbar
2 x MC30c Torpedo Frigates
2 x A-Wing
1 x B-Wing
2 x E-Wing
2 x X-Wing
Grand Admiral Scott was worried about this large swarm of fighters. In order to field the two massive star destroyers his fighter escort was very light. He could only hope they would sell themselves dearly and that the two corvettes, designed as escorts would also do well.
Being forced to deploy first, the Imperials kept themselves in a tight group near the center.
For some reason the rebels lined up shifted to their right with one torpedo frigate and most of their fighters push out even farther to the right. This seemed particularly odd since there was a heavy concentration of asteroids in that area.
The fleets advanced to battle!
Turn 1
The Imperials had the initiative and would move first each turn, but they also had more ships, so they could control the order of engagement nicely. The strength of the Imperial fleet lay in the massive forward batteries of the two star destroyers. With the Gunnery Team upgrades, those batteries could fire twice each turn although not at the same target. Admiral Scott therefore advanced them at speed 1 to make sure he could keep them facing the enemy as long as possible. If the more nimble rebel ships got behind him, he would be in real trouble. This was especially true since the objective for the battle gave extra victory points for any hits scored on a ship's rear arc. So the fleet lumbered forward. Only the corvette Impetuous, on the right of the formation sprinted forward at speed 3 to try and turn the rebel flank. Interestingly, the rebel battlecruiser also had most of its firepower facing forward, so it was only strolling along at speed 1 as well. The frigate to its left paced it, while the other one moved at higher speed down the other flank. There was no firing on turn 1.
Imperials advance!
Rebels move to engage!
Turn 2
Due to the slow pace of the ships, there was no combat on Turn 2, either. The imperials continued their stately advance, but to Admiral Scott's surprise the rebel torpedo frigate on the extreme left was now leading the bulk of the rebel fighters. In the center it was going to be 3 on 3. And by brilliant foresight the Admiral had given both star destroyers squadron orders and he banked the tokens for next turn.
Turn 3
On this turn the fighting began, but most of the ships were still out of range, so the bulk of the combat involved the fighters. Using their squadron tokens, all three Imperial squadrons moved forward to engage the B-Wing and the two E-Wings. The imperials rolled impossibly well and an E-Wing and the B-Wing were blown out of the sky. The TIE interceptor was destroyed in return, but it was a very good exchange. A few long-range hits were scored on the torpedo frigate, stripping away some of its shields. The corvette on the right swung around heading for the rebel rear. On the left, the other corvette, the Industrious, gallantly charged the other torpedo frigate and the swarm of rebel fighters. It could very well become a suicide mission, but if it kept all of those fighters and the frigate tied up it could be decisive.
Turn 4
The ships in the center were still pretty far apart, but closing. The star destroyers hammered the torpedo frigate stripping away pretty much all of its shields and doing a hit or two. The corvette on the right got in a hit and helped the TIE fighters take out the remaining E-Wing. The Invincible also scored some hits on the rebel battlecruiser's shields. The Gunnery Teams were proving very useful! Return fire was largely ineffective, knocking a few shields off the Invincible. The Industrious on the left also took some minor damage, but it was heading into a hornet's nest! Its captain looked the situation over and realized that there were no good moves open to it, so it charged directly toward the rebel frigate (and thus staying out of its formidable broadside arcs)! A glancing collision dealt out a damage card to each ship, but they bumped on past each other (house rule to avoid repeated collisions). The rebel fighters closed in and stripped off most of the Industrious' shields, but the ship was still intact.
A sticky situation!
Turn 5
Okay, this was the crunch turn. Confident that things were well under control in the main battle, Admiral Scott mercifully gave the first move to the Industrious. Knowing that it could not hope to do any serious damage to the torpedo frigate, it concentrated all its fire on the rebel fighters and its die rolling was tremendous, severely damaging all four squadrons surrounding it. Then it accelerated away, leaving the rebels behind. Then the star destroyers fired their mass batteries at the other torpedo frigate, blowing it to dust! Several hits were also scored on the battlecruiser. Rebel return fire was ineffective, except for destroying one of the TIE squadrons.
Turn 6
This was the last turn and the fleets were pulling away. The star destroyers hammered the rebel battlecruiser, but their fire was through an asteroid field and somewhat reduced. They hurt it badly, but could not quite get the last two hits needed to destroy it and it escaped. Meanwhile, the plucky Industrious demonstrated why fighters should not pursue a ship when there's no one close by to give squadron orders. Industrious blew away two of the X-Wings and then sped off to safety!
So, a resounding Imperial victory! A torpedo frigate and five fighter squadrons destroyed for the loss of only two fighter squadrons. 133 points to 19. The victory was only dampened by the fact that there had been no rebel base in Polanis. Better hunting next time! (And appoint a new intelligence officer!)
